When guests check into condominiums, motels, and/or hotels, today they are given a special key for their assigned room, which is returned upon their checking out. Some time the room keys are stolen, lost, or duplicated. This is also true of the master key to all of the rooms. The subsequent necessary replacement of either the key or the whole lock assembly is an expensive and time consuming operation. Moreover when a person wants to go touring or to play on the beach, their handling of a set of keys are a problem. The keys could be lost to a burglar. Later the burglar would gain access to the room, if the hotel is identified on the key chain. Also some resorts do not have a clerk on duty after hours, so an emergency number must be called in case of lost keys. Also, some resorts, condominiums, motels and/or hotels will house more than one couple in a unit of rooms. If any person wants to return to the unit and doesn't have a key, then a key must be obtained from another member of the group. This is immediately impossible some times. For an example; if the guests are snow skiing, two persons will take different skiing routes, and one person, returning earlier, must wait for the other person having the key to return. Additionally if a person is delayed past the check in time, then the operator of the guest facilities must be called out of bed to check in these guests after hours.
Any attempts to eliminate these key inconveniences associated with resorts, condominiums, motels and hotels are not presently known. However, it is known that when persons working with a real estate business or a vehicle sales business are showing the homes or vehicles to customers, they carry a key and/or combination to be used to gain access to a key safe which contains the specific key of a home or a vehicle.
By way of example, Harry Mallett in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,008 of 1963, discloses his Automatic Locking Key Safe, which is secured to a dwelling to contain a spring retractable tethered specific key to a dwelling. The real estate salesperson uses his or her real estate business key to gain access to the interior of this key safe and then to the tethered specific key to the dwelling.
Derek Gable in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,240 to 1982 illustrates and describes his Locking Mechanism, which is useful to real estate persons, vehicle sales persons, and others of like groups, you must gain access to dwellings or vehicles by specific dwelling keys or specific vehicle keys. These specific keys are placed inside his locking mechanism and secured, only to be released if such a person has a special key formed to mechanically correspond to a key insert cavity, that in turn is equipped with an interior that is changeable upon the turning of components directly associated with a combination locking mechanism. Therefore the holder of the special key must also know the combination to gain entry to the locking mechanism structure, which includes a compartment in which a specific dwelling key, or a specific vehicle key is kept. Several combinations of keys and combinations may be in use during a like time period.
Paul E. Piche in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,979,932 of 1975, illustrates and describes his Adjustable Combination Lock Key Safe, which is secured to the door handle of a dwelling. Two telescoping parts are used in conjunction with a shackle to enclose a specific dwelling key. Access to key safe is undertaken by operating a combination lock, which locks the telescoping parts together. After reaching the successful combination, a separate latch is rotatable to release the telescoping parts from one another.
Jack Law, in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,434 of 1976 discloses his Key Safe Apparatus which contains a specific residence key, which is only obtainable by a real estate person correctly operating a combination lock which holds the components of the key safe together.
Carl Hansen in his U.S. Pat. No. 2,813,620 illustrates and describes his Container for Keys, Sales Information, and the Like, which contains a specific dwelling key, or which contains a specific vehicle key. This specific key is only available, if the authorized salesperson has a key to open Mr. Hansen's container.
Ronald Parent in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,091 of 1973 illustrates and describes his Method and Device for Handling Motor Vehicle Keys. A master key is used by car salespersons to open his device to gain access to a specific ignition key to the car on which the device is also locked.
Robert Bays in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,067 of 1972, discloses his Car Theft Prevention Device which is similar in purpose to Ronald Parent's device.
Although these prior inventors concerned themselves with controlling the access to specific keys for dwellings and/or vehicles, none of them apparently concerned themselves with solving the inconveniences encountered by guests and/or members of the staff of resorts, condominiums, motels and hotels. There remained a need for other embodiments of specific key safes and the locks thereof.